I wasn’t going to blog about this at all, but I see it’s still being spread around today, so I’ll just say this. There is a story at Business Insider that quotes a Gingrich supporter by the name of David Lane who claims that Karl Rove was fundraising for Rick Santorum during the primary.
The claim is 100% false.
This is insane in so many ways I don’t even know where to begin. It is obviously false to claim that Karl Rove raised a dime for Rick Santorum’s campaign. Nearly all of Santorum’s post-Iowa fundraising surge was in the form of online contributions from small donors.
So why on earth would David Lane say such a thing?
Neither Rick Santorum nor anyone in his campaign has said anything to me about any of this (nor would they), but I do know that during the primary campaign, anyone who knew anything at all about the Santorum campaign would have known immediately that this story is false. Also, anyone who knows anything at all about the Santorum campaign can most likely guess what motivation a Gingrich supporter might have to spread a story that somehow Rick Santorum (who won eleven states with mostly small donations) was the one whose campaign somehow “prevented” Gingrich (who won one state) from winning races. In order to explain my reasoning for that, I’d have to say some things that Gingrich supporters would not really like to hear, and I’m just not going to get down in the gutter, especially on my birthday…(but his initials are Sheldon Adelson.)
I like Newt Gingrich…a lot. I’m sure he’s not personally responsible in any way for this claim being propagated at Business Insider. He was my second choice for president during the primary. I would have happily supported him if Rick Santorum had not run, and would support him again if Rick Santorum were to decide he won’t run again. Also, my instincts tell me that the Christian thing to do (and the politically smart thing to do) is not to get into a fight with Gingrich supporters over this. At the same time, it does make me quite angry to see such a big lie being spread about Rick Santorum, no matter who is spreading it, so I would just ask you to stop spreading it. If you are decent people, as I believe you to be, you won’t engage in this sort of thing. It’s a false story and it needs to stop right now. So, just stop it. Okay? Thanks.
